Heat (btu) value in firewood

When wood burns, three things happen:

1. Water is removed by evaporation
2. Chemically, the wood breaks down into charcoal, gas and volatile liquids, with carbon dioxide and water being the chief end products.
3. The charcoal burns, forming carbon dioxide either directly or with an intermediate conversion to carbon monoxide.

One pound of very dry (zero moisture content) wood of any species has a calorific value of approximately 8,600 Btu (British thermal unit, which equals the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one pound of water one degree F).
Any moisture in the wood reduces the recoverable heat by carrying heat up the chimney during vaporization.
Each pound of water vaporized uses about 1,200 Btu.

Additional Btu are lost through the formation of volatile liquids and gases during combustion, but these vary by the type of heating unit and should be considered part of the efficiency factor of the heating unit.
A pound of wood with a 20-percent moisture content contains 0.17 pound of water and 0.83 pound of completely dry wood and has a heat value of about 7,000 Btu

Certified woodstove testing laboratories

Independent laboratories test wood stoves for certification by the EPA Wood Heater Program. EPA accredits these laboratories to conduct wood stove certification testing in accordance with EPA reference method 28, method 28A and sampling protocols Reference methods 5G, 5H, 5G1.
There are four accredited testing laboratories in the United States and one in Canada.

OMNI Environmental Services, Inc. Post Office Box 743 Beaverton, Oregon 97075 Telephone - 503-643-3788 FAX - 503-643-3799 Contact - Paul Tiegs

Intertek Testing Services, Inc. (ITS, Wisconsin) 8431 Murphy DriveMiddleton, WI 53562 Telephone - 608- 836-4400 FAX - 608-831-9279
Contact - Dan Striebel, Rick Curkeet, PE

Myren Consulting, Inc. 512 Williams Lake Road Colville, WA 99114
Telephone - 509-684-1154 FAX: 509-685-2262 Contact - Ben Myren

Lokee Testing Laboratory 13235 Prairie Circle EastSumner, WA 98390-7250
Telephone - 360-897-9685 FAX - 360-897-9357 Contact - Chip Waddington

Intertek Testing Servs., (ITS, Quebec) 1829 32nd Ave. Lachene, Quebec Can. H8T3J1
Telephone - 514-631-3100 FAX - 514-631-1133 Contact - Claude Pelland

EPA certified stove labels

All certified woodstoves offered for sale will have a permanent and a temporary label indicating that the stoves are EPA-certified. The temporary label will also contain information that you will find useful when shopping for a new stove. The label will tell you generally how clean and how efficient each woodstove is.
However, because regulations require all new stoves to burn much cleaner and more efficiently than unregulated woodstoves, there should not be significant differences in efficiency and emissions performance among the certified catalytic models. This holds true for the non-catalytic models as well.

The label will also indicate which stoves are equipped with catalytic combustors.
Perhaps the most important information on the label you will need when selecting a stove is the heat output range.


Use this information to help select the right size stove for the space you will be heating.

On the humorous side

You'll love it

"Now here's a cat
I can live with"

The FIRECAT by
Applied Ceramics

Happy Thanksgiving

A FIRECAT combustor up-close

This is what the FIRECAT combustor looks like up close.

Friendly reminder

Don't be fooled - compare before you buy.
As a consumer myself, I don't like being ripped off nor do I like a vendor giving me a lot of hype about their product. I write this article because this is exactly what I see happening to you when your shopping for a replacement catalytic combustor for your woodburning stove. Trust me, I know because I have sold catalytic combustors for 18 years to stove manufacturers, dealers, and consumers. I also know what they should sell for at a reasonable prices.
I'm not talking about quality of the product, I strictly talking price. All catalytic combustors for wood burning appliances are EPA approved and have basically the same noble metal coatings. Therefore, I am not promoting any manufactures product. I just want you to beware of the so called "sale price" and other hype you see when trying to buy a replacement catalytic combustor for your wood burning appliance.
Here are a few examples that I recently ran across on-line:
1. I noticed on e-Bay a seller offering combustors for a so called "special price". They say, the retail price is $163.79 and are telling the consumers they will save $45.69. I take this to mean the consumer pays $118.10. However, the manufacturer sells the same product and combustor size for $109.51. I ask, is this a marketing tactic, hype or rip off?
2. I found a dealer advertising a big combustor sale. "Prices slashed". So what's wrong with that? As I studied this "big sale", I noticed they advertised only by stove model and not by combustor size. Since many combustors are the same size and interchangeable with other stoves and models, I feel the combustors should be sold for the same price. These combustors are sold to dealers by part number and sizes, not by the stove they are used in. In other words the same size combustor should be sold for the same price. Sale or no sale.
What this store was doing, was putting special prices on their home page to lure you in, but offering deals only on combustors for stove models that don't sell and probably never will. In fact, the stove companies have been out of business for over 20 years. The catch is, combustors of the same size and used in other stoves still made today, were priced at their regular price.
Don't be fooled, shop and compare before you buy.
If you have a story to tell or need advise on buying a catalytic combustor for you stove, please let me know.